Newly (Re)discovered Sounds from the Composers and Pianists that Shaped Our 2011

Monday, January 09, 2012

New-music junkies thrive on hearing new sounds, on experiencing novel, sonic worlds. Really, is there anything more exciting than listening to a piece for the first time? This week on Hammered! we're reacquainting you with some of those experiences and playing our favorite discoveries of 2011.

Of course the week is overflowing with new composers and recently written music. Monday begins with one of the most striking additions to our library in 2011, Sleeping Giant Ted Hearne's Parlor Diplomacy for solo piano in a scary-good performance by fellow Giant Timothy Andres. (Apropos of these topics, do yourself a favor and revisit last month's Sleeping Giant invasion.)

Other highlights (what's a highlight among highlights?) include new-to-us works by Benjamin Broening (the Recombinant Nocturnes for multiple pianos and electronics), accordionist Guy Klucevsek (the Well-Tampered Accordion), Marco Stroppa (Tangato Manu for solo piano) and pianist composer Eric Wubbles (This Is This Is This).

Friday includes works that we rediscovered through the earlier rediscovery of some of the great new-music pianists alive. Seriously, is there any man / woman / child that can / could / will achieve Alan Feinberg's contrapuntal clarity in the thorny scores of Milton Babbitt? What about the microscopic detail and pianistic clarity of Fredrik Ullen's performances of Gyorgy Ligeti?

Enough about us though. What keyboard wizardry do you want to hear in 2012?

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About Hammered!

As of September 1, 2014, Hammered! is on hiatus.

Say hello to Hammered!, Q2 Music's hour-long, weekday program devoted the extraordinary breadth and ever-evolving repertoire of music for keyboard. From concert grand to disklavier, synthesizer to clavichord, prepared piano to toy piano, Hammered! shares musical colors from ebony to ivory and every shade in between.